Issues With Being Blackmailed
by Gothic Turtle
Summary: AU Kin Tsuchi is tired of her boring, day-to-day life. She dreams of getting into the prestigious Sound High in Japan and having a successful singing career, but can that ever happen when her own classmates can barely remember her name? After an odd encounter with one of her teachers, Kin soon finds life taking a unexpected turn. T for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

If there was one thing you needed to know about Kin Tsuchi, it was that she was as normal as you could get: pretty, but jaw-dropping gorgeous; a bit on the short admittedly; average grades (and obsessively working to improve); had a small, well-paying job after school and on the weekends; not particularly popular (matter of fact, you could go as far as to say she was utterly invisible).

Much like Kin, every day was more or less normal. She'd go to school, study during lunch, work after school, study some more at home, and that was it. It was boring, and she ached for something different to come along and stir things up _just once_.

It was on one such boring day that Kin got her wish, though she wouldn't realize for quite some time later. It started one day after school, when she just getting out of class. It had been an especially boring school day, despite their sensei Kakashi allowing the class to leave early so he could catch the newest 'Icha Icha' movie premiering that evening.

'What to do with the extra time?' Kin pondered. Her boss at work wouldn't likely let her start early; as the owner of the neighboring store – 'Bees Knees Music' – knew she was underage to be working, causing her boss to be extremely wary of her working hours there. But what could she do? She _did not_ want to hang around school for a half an hour, yet by the time she would get home to study, it'd be time to leave for work.

Kin was so caught up in her thoughts she hadn't noticed the running figure heading straight towards her until she was knocked back onto the floor.

"Ow! Hey watch where you're going!" she snapped. When her eyes fell on _who_ she had snapped at though, she instantly stiffened and jumped to help them up and gather the books they had dropped.

"S-sensei Kurenai! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you!"

Kurenai sighed as she brushed herself off.

"That's fine, I shouldn't have been running. Have you seen Rock Lee by any chance? I think he's in your class."

Kin shook her head. Sadly for Kurenai, Lee had advanced into a higher class just last week, and Kin hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of the boy since then. Kurenai looked a little disappointed.

"Oh, well, what about Tenten? I know for sure she's in your class."

Again, Kin shook her head. True, they were in the same class, but as far as Kin knew, Tenten had gone off with one of the clubs she was in (archery, was it? she couldn't quite remember) for a tournament, so wasn't in class that day.

Kurenai sighed dejectedly.

"And I can't find Aburame-san or Inuzuka-san," she muttered under her breath. Her eyes became focused ground as Kurenai looked to be thinking to herself.

Kin shifted uncomfortably, looking up and down the school halls for an excuse to end this awkward exchange with her sensei. Deciding it was best to say a polite 'goodbye' and just walk away, she turned to leave.

"Um...well… bye sen-"

"Wait!"

Kin froze mid-step. What could the older woman possibly want from her _now_?

Turning back towards her sensei, Kin couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She was far too used to being the ignored girl sitting in the corner, so the fact that a teacher of people was calling out to her…. well it couldn't mean something good now could it?

Gulping silently, Kin forced herself to look directly at Kurenai.

"I need someone to drop off some books at the Hyūga household for two of my students. Do you know where that is?"

Kin wanted to sigh in relief, but didn't dare to.

'I'm not in trouble! What a relief!' she thought to herself. 'But why is she asking me this? Of course I don't know where the Hyūga household is!'

Shaking her head slightly, Kin gave her teacher an apologetic look.

Kurenai sighed again for the umpteenth time. Wordlessly, she shoved the books in her hands into Kin's arms, making the poor girl instinctively grab the heavy pile. She was about to remind her sensei that she _just_ said she didn't know where to go, when she noticed the woman frantically searching through her bag. Curious, Kin kept quiet. Finally, Kurenai's hand emerged from the massive hand bag clutching a small piece of wrinkled paper. Pressing it into Kin's already occupied fingers, she explained what it was.

"The Hyūga household is at 54 River Creek, a few streets down from a small shopping district. This is the address in case you forget. I'm sorry to do this, but I have somewhere I need to be, and it appears everyone who already knows where the Hyūgas live have disappeared off somewhere. I'll be sure to make this up to you."

"B-but –"

"Thank you Kin-chan! I knew you were a good girl!"

With that, Kurenai dashed off to wherever it was she apparently needed to be, leaving a confused and slightly annoyed Kin Tsuchi in her wake.

Shifting the pile of books in arms, she silently cursed whatever Godly force was out there mocking her.

"Life just keeps getting better and better!" she groaned.

()

Kin had arrived at the Hyūga residence in record time. Luckily for her, the address Kurenai sensei had given her was actually nearby where she worked (as the store she worked in was a part of the 'small shopping district' she had mentioned), so she was able to find it easily enough.

Ringing the doorbell, she let her eyes take in the scenery. The Hyūga house was quite pretty, and very big, despite being situated in a growing city. The front garden alone was massive with various trees planted randomly around it, and flowers of every color lined the path leading directly to the front door. It was kind of….cute. Kin was surprised she hadn't come across this part of town house before, considering how close it was to her work.

After what felt like ages (but couldn't have been more than a few minutes), the front door finally creaked opened, revealing a cute, long-haired girl in a nightgown with the strangest, prettiest eyes Kin had ever seen. The girl couldn't have been older than eight.

"Yes?" the pupil-less girl asked. Kin couldn't help but stare.

"I'm to drop off these books," Kin explained, shuffling the books in question as she spoke.

The girl nodded, opened the door for kin to step in. Placing the heavy pile on a small side table by the doorway, she stretched out her sore arms. The books Kurenai had given (aka, _shoved at_) Kin were heavy, and carrying them for so long had made her arms and hands sore.

"I _think_ these are for Kurenai's students. Tell them their stuff for school is here and to get back to class please. I don't want to have to do this every day," she told the small girl. She nodded.

"Alright. Can you please stay here for a minute?"

Kin shrugged and nodded. She had plenty of time to get to work, and already was pretty close by, so there was no need to go rushing off. Plus, she was curious to see what the cute little kid wanted to show her. She would rather die than admit it, but she had a soft spot for children.

Almost as quickly as the little girl had rushed off, she was back again. Only this time, she wasn't alone. A tall, seemingly middle-aged man was following the child. He was clearly her father, as he shared many similar characteristics with his daughter, namely the pale pupil-less eyes that Kin found so fascinating. He had quite an intimidating air about him that Kin did not want to get close to.

"My youngest daughter tells me you're here for my eldest daughter and nephew?" His tone and speech were both steady and clam, yet even a blind man could feel the homicidal waves of anger rolling off of him.

Kin quickly shook her head. She didn't know who this guy was, but he didn't look happy, and Kin most certainly did not want to be on the receiving end of his temper.

"Ah… no. I-I'm just dropping some books off for them. K-Kurenai sensei asked me to."

The man sucked in a small breath before continuing the conversation (if you could call it that. It felt more like a confrontation in Kin's opinion.)

"I wasn't aware they hadn't been attending school, -"

Opps. She hadn't known that.

"- are you in their class?"

"N-no sir, just d-dropping off books, like I said."

The man in front of her nodded his understanding.

"May I have your name?"

"Uh, Tsuchi Kin."

"Hyūga Haishi. Thank you Tsuchi-san, and my apologies for the trouble. I will see to it that this incident is not repeated. Take this as compensation for having to go out of your way." Haishi pulled what must have been at least eight hundred yen* from his pockets, making Kin's eyes go wide.

"Ah, n-no! That's okay! I have a job so I'm fine!"

Haishi paused and eyed her warily.

"I wasn't aware my nephew's school permitted students to work," he said slowly, almost cautiously. If it hadn't been for the look in his eye no-one would have guessed that he was grilling her.

"Ah… yeah, it does. I work at the art supplies store in the shopping district near here. It's really nice and pays well. My only friend is their best customer and I'm one of only two employees, not including my boss." She was rambling. _Why_ was she rambling? Was she seriously _that_ intimidated by this guy? She needed to leave, _now_, before she made a bigger fool of herself than she had already.

"We-ell I need to go! Nice meeting you two and have a nice day!"

With that, Kin was out the door, down the garden path, through the garden gates and off in the direction she had come from.

Haishi and his daughter – Hyūga Hanabi – simply stood there and stared at the spot the odd girl had occupying mere moments ago.

Hanabi was the first to break the silence.

"She forgot her money," she pointed out. Haishi looked down at the money still in his hand, before stuffing it back into his pocket.

"I'll have Neji give it to her when he gets home."

Hanabi cocked her head to side as she looked at her father.

"You look kinda scary when you're mad."

"Good, I should do. Now go take your medicine and tell me when they get home." Haishi stomped out the room and made his way to his home office, angrily slamming the door close as he did so. Hanabi winced at the sheer volume of the noise.

'Poor, poor ane and itoko**,' she thought to herself. 'You two are going to get it when you get home.'

- eight hundred yen should roughly equal to ten dollars, last time I checked at least.

- 'ane' Is apparently the proper honorific for referring to one's own older sister, likewise 'itoko' is for older male cousins. I wanted to keep to the proper use of honorifics as this story had a modern-day setting. I would expect the Hyūgas to be a rather traditional clan, I thought they would refer to each other with the proper honorifics, even when not in each other's presence.


	2. Chapter 2

Kin had been more than happy to get out of that house and away Haishi. He looked scary to her, though Kin would never admit it. She had her pride after all.

Checking her watch, she realized that she still had some time left to kill before her shift started, much to her annoyance. What could she do till then? Just show up and hang around the store like some loner?

…. Maybe. It wasn't like she had enough time to do much else.

Kin soon found herself standing outside of a small, rather beat-up looking old store in urgent need of redecorating.

'Honestly,' she sighed to herself. 'Anyone would think we didn't make any money!'

Contrary to the shop's appearance, they got a fairly healthy amount of business. Being located so close to Sound and Arts Middle School and Sound and Arts High School – two new, conjoined prestigious schools specializing in all forms of art – they made quite a good profit from students and teachers coming in to stock up on supplies.

Kin couldn't help but flinch a little as the memory of her experience at Sound ran through her mind. Shaking herself, she pushed opened the door, the familiar ring of the automatic doorbell signaling her arrival. Immediately two heads shot up where they had been hidden behind shelves of paint. Both wore similar expressions of confusion when they realized who had just entered.

"Tsuchi-san? Why are you so early?"

Kin shrugged off her backpack and tossed it onto the floor behind the counter.

"I got let out early. I thought I could hang out here until my shift starts, unless you want me to start now."

Her boss shook his head.

"The imbecile next door will undoubtedly find out and most likely accuse me of overworking you. I would rather not risk it."

Just as she predicted. She simply shrugged, and moved to sit on the counter near the till.

"Hanging around it is then. So, anybody got anything interesting to talk about?"

"Oh oh I do un! Wait right here! I have to show you this un!" Kin's co-worker exclaimed, dashing past her. Kin, shocked at the random outburst (the fact he had been standing right next to her too didn't help), nearly fell of the counter, legs and arms flailing everywhere trying to regain balance. Sending an utterly baffled look to her boss, he simply shook his head and rolled his eyes in the direction his employee had disappeared, clearly sending out the message that he thought the younger man as an utter fool.

Not a moment later, her co-worker had returned, slamming a small wooden box on the counter next to Kin. This time, she really did fall off, much to the two males' amusement.

Blowing a stray hair from her face, Kin scowled up at the pair.

"Yeah, yeah! Smirk it up!"

The young man by the counter continued to grin down at her, before offering her a hand up. Kin stuck her tongue out at him, but took it nonetheless. Once back on her feet, she eyed the box he had brought out with curiosity.

"So what's this then? Another one of your art projects from school?"

The boy in front of her grinned almost maniacally.

"You bet, un! You'll never guess what it is," he said smugly.

Kin raised her eyebrows.

"Hm, well it _looks_ like a wooden box," she smirked. This time he was the one to stick his tongue out at her.

"Guess what's _inside _the box un! Ugh, sometimes I think you have no brains, un!"

Kin tried to elbow him, only for him to dodge it and smirk at her once more.

"I don't know, I give up," she told give. He threw her a look of mock disappointment.

"Oh, but you didn't even try, un! Oh well, open it, un!"

Kin gave him a suspicious look. She silently swore to herself that if this was a prank of some sort, he _would _pay for it.

Slowly, cautiously, she lifted the lid off of the small box. Much to her relief, it didn't contain a massive spider (which had been the last prank he had pulled on her) , but instead was filled with a bunch of odd-looking tiles with all sorts of random images in reversed engraving.

"Um….okay you got me. What is all of this?" She eyed the contents with undisguised intrigue. Picking up one tile, she noted how it was a rather pretty bird etching on it.

"Deidara, did you do all these by hand?" she gasped. There were at least two dozen small tiles in the small wooden container, and Kin couldn't imagine having to do each tiny engraving by hand. She didn't have the patience – or talent – for such a task.

Her co-worker – Deidara – smirked in triumph at the girl's reaction.

"That's right, un! It's part of a customizable stamp set I'm making, un. I've got lots more design ideas, but it's still in the beginning stage, un."

Kin looked wide-eyed at the boy before her. This wasn't the first time he had showed off a piece of work to her and their boss, but for some reason she always forgot that, for as annoying as he could be at times, how talented an artist he was. So when it came to times such as this, she would never fail to be blown away at his work. Deidara never complained about it – he loved getting that reaction out of people. It gave him something to brag about.

"Sasori-sama! Have you seen this?" Kin turned to ask her boss. The youthful-looking man (who had long since returned to checking the up on the stock while his employees chatted) gave a short nod.

"It's about as close as he's ever been to making a real piece of true art, though he plans on ruining it later."

Deidara glared at his boss.

"What do you mean by that un? I'm not going to ruin it un! I'm improving it and turning it into a _true_ art style un!"

Kin threw back her head and groaned.

"Oh, not this argument again you two! And what do mean 'improve'?"

Deidara's glare was once again replaced with his characteristically smug smirk.

"Instead of just using plain ink or hot, messy wax for these stamps, they can be used with clay instead, to make letters and documents look over old-fashioned and stuff, un," he explained.

Kin nodded to show she was still listening. So far it sounded like a good idea, so what did Sasori mean by "ruin"?

Deidara's smirk only widened.

"Well –and this is the big money-maker – I'll be using _exploding _clay instead of the boring, normal stuff un!"

Kin's eyebrows shot up.

"_Exploding_ clay? Did I really just hear you right?"

Deidara nodded excitedly, while Sasori simply rolled his eyes at the blonde's back before returning to whatever it was he was distracting himself with.

"Yeah un! Like those self-exploding letters you see in spy movies, only real un!"

Kin had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

"Exploding _letters_? I wish you luck with that, I really do," she sniggered, giving the tall male a patronizing pat on the back as she did so. Deidara simply scowled at her.

"See if you're laughing when I'm rolling in money, un!" he huffed. Kin was ready with a resort, only to be cut off by having an apron thrown over her head.

"Your shift starts in three minutes, I suggest you get ready."

Kin nodded and put it on. Luckily for her, Sasori didn't require her to wear a uniform – uniforms were expensive and she didn't have a lot of money to go around.

A cold January breeze whipped through the shop as the door bells chimes.

Kin looked over her shoulder to glance at who had just come in, and felt herself smile immediately.

"Well hey! Long time no see!" she grinned.

She caught Deidara rolling his eyes next to her.

"Hn, one _whole _day without each other, un," he grunted. Kin moved to elbow him again, only for him to dodge it for a second.

Both turned to the falsely grinning boy lingering in the doorway.

"I had stayed up all night again working on my manga, so I slept through the morning," he explained. Two sets of eyebrows shot up while one pair of eyes rolled. No need to guess who did what.

"_All_ morning? And you still went to school?"

Deidara shook his head in disbelief.

"If it was me, Orochimaru sensei would have murdered me."

The false smile the boy was wearing twitched into a more genuine one.

"Luckily I wasn't sent to him. I just went to see the distraught look on my art history teacher's face when he realized he won't go for a whole day without me. It was worth it."

Kin laughed and nudged the boy next to her with her elbow.

"You're so evil sometimes Sai! If you're not careful you'll drive that pour man into an early grave!"

"Or a mental hospital," Deidara quipped.

"Isn't he already working in one?"

The odd group of three sniggered. Sasori – still standing a good distance away from them – rolled his eyes again.

"There is no hope for any of you in the future," he muttered. If anyone had heard him, they didn't show it. The three simply continued to stand there throwing quips and half-hearted insults at one another. It was strange friendship if there ever was one.

The laughter was short lived though, as yet another cold breeze and chiming of the door bells signaled a (real) customer's arrival.

Deidara and Kin both rushed to get behind the counter, with Deidara taking the short route by jumping over it. Kin however, had scrambled to run around the counter, nearly tripping and falling (yes, again) as she did so. Sai couldn't hide the amused glint in his as he watched the two. Unlike those two, he didn't have to pretend to be working.

Three heads (Sasori had returned to the back of the shop) turned to take in the customer. Ordinarily, Deidara would be the one to ask them if they need help, while kin stuck to the checkout to keep eyes off of her and avoid anyone noticing her young age. It had worked for them so far.

However, this 'customer' didn't immediately start roaming the store, like most did. Instead, after a few moments of him just standing there in a shocked silence, a devious look flitted across his face. He walked up the cashier slowly as though he had all the time in the world. His eyes were focused on Kin, making her feel more than a bit on edge. Deidara and Sai noticed her tense up, and immediately scooted a little closer to her. If this stranger was going to try something, he would have to get through them first.

The stranger was smirking now. With of jolt of surprise, Kin noticed he had the _exact_ same eyes as the girl she had met earlier.

'This must be Kurenai's student!'

Kin's eyes were as wide as saucers .If this boy was one of Kurenai's students, that meant –

"You forgot to take your compensation money from my oji-san*. See you tomorrow, Tsuchi-san."

The pupil-less boy placed an envelope on the counter. With one last knowing look, he left the store far faster than he had entered it.

She couldn't move. She couldn't even take her eyes off the envelope from where the unnamed boy had placed it.

"Kin-chan?"

Kin forced herself to drag her eyes from the enveloped to meet the inquiring (and oddly concerned) expressions of her two friends.

"Who was that, un? Was he from your school, un?"

Kin shook her head, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. The boy from before, though he hadn't been wearing their school uniform for some reason (it most likely had something to do with his skipping school), if he was Kurenai's student, then there was no doubt he from Konoha Junior High. There was no reason to tell Deidara and Sai that though – she didn't think they would handle that information too well, considering the relationship between her and their schools.

'_See you tomarrow Tsuchi-san.'_

Oh God, she thought she was going to be sick.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

- I _believe _this is the correct way of referring to one's uncle. I looked it up, but I know that when it comes of family relations honorifics tend to be ten times more complicated than normal. If I ever get any wrong, feel free to correct me in a PM or a review.


End file.
